Colorado SEO Blog

Google+ - No Longer a Local Search Requirement!

2016-02-02T10:37:00.000-08:00

Google+ isn’t dead. It just didn’t survive being an important component in a Local Search Strategy. And, I for one am extremely happy about that!

It’s always a bit embarrassing when I’ve insisted that clients follow particularly “important” recommendations (like Google+) and then have to turn around and say “never mind”. But, that’s the nature of SEO. No let me correct that. That’s the nature of Google.

But I do not suffer alone; all SEO consultants and agencies have to live with the never-ending unpredictability of Google. And it must be the responsibility of (great) SEOs and agencies to report up-to-date requirements; even if it makes us look like we may be trying to cover up our lack of knowledge. On behalf of my fellow professionals, please know that sometimes we can only be the messengers. And, it’s because we know our stuff that we can come before you to report yet another SEO modification.

The one thing that you will need to remember, however, is that Google My Business has not changed and is extremely important for improved local search positioning.

Local Search optimization has become more and more complicated; it no longer consists of using geographical modifiers in your title tags. It’s also become more and more effective for driving new customers to your website. Awareness Creation has been solidifying our knowledge base to become Local Search experts to improve our clients’ Internet Marketing campaigns. We love to disrupt business as usual and Local Search is just one way we make sure you no longer have to settle for “business as usual.”

Stay tuned. I’ll be sharing other SEO news (the good, the bad, and the ugly). But today, let’s bask in the demise of Google+ as a Local Search requirement.

Online Marketing for Boomers

2015-11-11T14:54:00.002-08:00

Rethinking Retirement?

Then You Have to Reinvent… Why You Absolutely Need Online Marketing!

Forbes reported back in June of this year that Baby Boomers are more likely to start a business in the next year than Millennials – twice as likely. One of the fastest-growing segments of entrepreneurs in the U.S. is comprised of Baby Boomers (specifically, those over 50). See Boomers Rethinking Retirement.

Good news: Boomers have decades of invaluable experience. Bad news: they may not have all the experience (or facts) they need to start a successful “encore career.” For instance, what it takes “nowadays” to market the products or services they’re promoting.

We may be a little biased, but we don't think any business can succeed without using online marketing. Digital Marketing includes a variety of necessities such as a responsive website, SEO, Optimized Content, Social Media and Online Advertising.

Awareness Creation Reinvention Services (aka Internet Marketing)

Marketing is all about inventing and reinventing a business. So, if you’re ready to reinvent your retirement with a new business, you need to get in touch with us.

We love small businesses, we love entrepreneurs and we love the Boomers. So much so that we’ve created a special SMB Internet Marketing program that helps startups get a grip on how to do business in the digital world; which, by the way, is much more cost-effective than most people think. Check out Awareness Creation Small Business Internet Marketing.

Should Doctors Be on Social Media? Absolutely!!!

2015-11-04T16:24:00.001-08:00

You'll find a lot of doctors who are very vocal about all the reasons doctors should not be on social media: HIPAA issues, no ROI, no time to keep up with it all, the potential of being burned by disgruntled patients' online reviews. My comment? Get on with it!

All business have very similar objections to using Social Media Marketing in their business development and communications strategies. However, the businesses who are using Social Media (including medical practices, hospitals, therapy providers, etc.) are finding ways to go around their initial objections and, ultimately, reap the benefits of Social Media:

Affordable Marketing for greater reach than traditional methods. Doctors can build or sustain their practices with the amount of new patients that can be found within a variety Social Media platforms. Using tools such as Google Analytics or Facebook Insights can provide you ROI (or even Social ROI - SROI) values.
Improved patient relationships result when doctors provide useful information about health management. Getting "social" doesn't mean you share your party selfies or travel plans. It's about having a give and take "conversation" about the needs of your audience and the professional information you can share that relates to those needs. Of course, you will not give personal health advice or reveal any person's private health information. But, you will create a trust and following among your social media contacts.
Outshining the competition is never a bad thing. Your social media participation can position you as an expert, a leader in your field. And, if much of your competition is still afraid of social media, you can definitely leave them in your dust. You will be seen not only as an expert but as a progressive professional. And what if you do get a bad review? It can happen even to the most perfect. But staying on top of the social chatter and keeping on track with your strategy will resolve any negative issues that may (or may never) come up.

Need other reasons to get in on Social Media. Check out 24 Outstanding Statistics & Figures on How Social Media has Impacted the Health Care Industry.

As always, I welcome your feedback and questions!

Carole

2015-03-10T10:33:00.003-07:00

Google has announced that changes in mobile search results are coming as of April 21, 2015. One point that is important for every website owner is that Mobile-Friendliness will become a ranking factor for SEO.

If your website is not mobile-friendly or does not use responsive design, your search engine rankings may be negatively impacted. Mobile searches have grown and so has mobile traffic. If your website is not "friendly" to this type of traffic, you may find a drop in your website activity in addition to a drop in the rankings.

You don't need to use responsive design but you will need to make sure that all the pages in your site are, again, mobile friendly. Google will be updating the search rankings once they discover the mobile status of each URL.

Don't know if your website will pass the new Google mobile-friendly test? Get in touch with Awareness Creation and we'll run a free test to let you know if Google sees your website as mobile friendly.

Remember: the deadline is April 21, 2015!

Good luck!

Carole

Beware of Semalt Referral Traffic

2015-02-03T07:17:00.000-08:00

For some time, our clients website analytics have been showing minimal traffic being driven by semalt.com which was not creating any big concern. Even though this type of traffic has been showing up for some time, most likely it wasn't referring a great number of "visitors". However, during the last half of 2014, Semalt has beefed up its activities and this can now create problems for your website.This is website traffic you don't want.

What is Semalt?

It's bad news. Semalt is a Ukrainian-based spamming operation that uses its "botnet" to hijack hundreds of thousands of computers around the world by hiding within Soundfrost, which is a mp3 download web utility. Without going into the ugly details, just know that Semalt affects your website analytics by "driving" high numbers of bogus referral traffic; however, the traffic will show a 100% Bounce Rate, reduced average session duration times and takes up bandwidth - which can negatively impact your website rating. So what can you do to lower the impact of this spammer?

Semalt Don'ts

Don't opt-out of Semalt with any links they provide. Many have reported that once they attempted to opt-out, the more traffic was generated by Semalt.

Semalt ignores robots.txt commands so trying to block it with robots.txt won't work.

Reducing the Impact of Semalt

Fortunately, there are a couple of ways you can fight the Semalt battle:

Check with your web development team to make sure they have used the required code for your .htaccess file. to block Semalt traffic.
If your website is on Wordpress, use the Block Semalt plugin.
If website uses PHP, Nabble has a Semalt Blocker.

You've got enough to deal with when it comes to getting and tracking legitimate traffic to your website; use the above recommendations to stop Semalt from driving bad traffic and messing with your analytics.

No More Exact & Phrase Matching in Google AdWords

2014-08-19T09:56:00.000-07:00

As of late September, Google AdWords advertisers will not be able to use the Exact and Phrase matching options.

The “close variants” (an option at this point) will be applied to all match types and a “pure” exact match will be a thing of the past. Some believe this will limit the control advertisers will have over specifying the key phrases that trigger your ad to show in specific searches.

Good news: less complicated matching selections for key word bidding. Bad news: potential losses in performance which may necessitate an increase in spend. Some analysts believe advertisers may need to ante up a 10% budget increase to get the same results pre-exact/phrase kill announcement of 8/15. Others see it as an opportunity for advertisers to let go of the efforts and $$ put out for possibly lower performing keywords and focus more on strategy.

But, since I'm a glass totally filled kinda gal, I see this as a good opportunity to refresh campaigns (usually a much needed action) - AND - that this is probably a Google move that will benefit the "little guy". By all analyses I've reviewed, this change will have more of an impact on those spending $100K+ per month: the top 5% tier of elite Google advertisers. But, no matter the budget you may have for your campaign, you will need to change up some of the keyword strategies to make sure your Google AdWords campaign is as efficient as possible.

We recommend that you declutter your campaign’s keyword lists but definitely create much more focused landing pages. By having well-optimized landing page you can experience 3-5 times gains.

So... Awareness Creation is starting to strategically modify all of its AdWords clients' campaigns to counteract Google's most recent decision (nothing new for us!). We will continue to strongly encourage improved optimization of landing pages.

Bottom line: Never get comfortable (read "static") with your Google strategies.

Speaking of modifications: Awareness Creation has begun its amplified Google+ strategy. Please follow!

Content Marketing + SEO + Increased Web Visitors = LEAD GENERATION

2014-03-20T11:08:00.002-07:00

Don't cha just love it when studies come out that reinforce the broken record message you've been delivering for, oh, I don't know - forever?!

Demand Metric in partnership with Ascend2 completed a SMB/Enterprise Survey covering content marketing objectives for SMB and Enterprise organizations. The survey results were provided by Marketo. Thanks to all for the great info!

Here's one snippet I particularly liked:

"As a lead generation strategy, content marketing is more effective when paired with other objectives on this list, such as increasing website visits and improving organic search rankings.

While these latter objectives are not highly ranked, they also are top drivers of lead generation performance."

The majority of Small Businesses and Enterprise organizations surveyed had lead generation as a top objective for content marketing while less than a third named their content objectives as focusing on increased website traffic and SEO. The bottom line: you need to have a mulit-dimensional content marketing strategy for it to deliver the benefit of lead generation. And, you need to make sure your content is compelling (will increase web visitors), audience-driven, and optimized for search engines (will improve organic search rankings).

Why Is Web Content so Important?

Content is vital for the success of your Marketing campaigns. Your audience - no matter the size of your company or the type of product or service - is a group of "self-educators" who are doing more online research before making purchasing decisions than ever before.

Because of this self-education process, the information you provide has a big job of attracting, engaging, and acquiring new customers. This is something you might want to do right to make sure your lead generation objectives are being met.

Resources Needed for Content Creation and Implementation

For most companies (SMB and Enterprise) the problem with creating and executing successful content strategies requires resources. Here's something to think about:

"More than half (53%) of SMBs use only in-house resources to execute content marketing campaigns.

68% of large enterprises outsource all or part of their content marketing campaign creation and implementation, gaining higher levels of expertise and performance available outside the organization.

Outside resources are helpful for obtaining specialized skills or to remain agile in the production of content."

SMBs... do you think your in-house resources are the most knowledgeable choice for creating and executing the best content marketing strategy that will meet your lead generation objectives. Enterprise organizations... are the 32% of you not using outside resources with more specialized skills getting the results you want to compete with the 68% who "get it"? Two words to remember: Awareness Creation!

Just saying...

Important Website Content - Don't Forget SEO!

2014-03-11T11:04:00.000-07:00

Website content has always been and will continue to be important for B2B vendors (and any other kind of website) not only for search engines but for your visitors' satisfaction. Many companies really don't have an understanding about what makes great content - and - the power great website content has when it comes to forming a good relationship with prospective clients. Of course, optimized content also has the power to get a website more visibility within the major search engines.

Many times, website owners don't offer website content that is important to their audience; perhaps, they're not sure what kind of content the audience wants to see. When it's time to create or update your website content, here is a great resource to keep in mind:

The above survey results were just released by KoMarketing Associates and Dianna Huff. It's interesting to see the most important asset for establishing your credibility is Contact information and About information. This correlates to years of website analytic reporting for hundreds of websites: the vast majority of visitors only visit the home page and then drop off the website without diving deeper into the website information. I personally prefer not to see so many one-page visitors but if that is something we have to deal with, why not make sure your B2B website gives the visitors what they're looking for?

On the flip side, here are a couple of the most annoying website elements that result in high exit rates:

Auto-playing video or audio and animated ads.
Contact forms that require too much information. By the way, most people do not want to share their telephones numbers or addresses but are comfortable with sharing emails, company, and position information.

For more details about this study, check out Must Have B2B Website Content

And - remember - don't put great content on your website without optimizing it for search engines. If your prospective clients can't find you - it doesn't matter how great the content is!

Internet Marketing - Digital Marketing – Web Marketing – Online Marketing: SEO, SEM, PPC, SMM, OPR, ETC. WTH???

2013-09-19T10:23:00.000-07:00

We’re finding there is some confusion about the basic difference between “Internet Marketing”, “Digital Marketing”, “Online Marketing”, and “Web Marketing”; not to mention the fog surrounding the concepts of SEO, SEM, PPC, etc. and how all of these tactics relate to your overall Marketing and Brand objectives. At Awareness Creation, we see all of this confusion as an unruly beast running amok in the minds of marketers and execs within companies of all sizes, in practically all industries.

Sooo… to help tame the beast I thought I’d put together a map that shows how the various tactics we use relate to one another and converge to create effective Internet Marketing Strategies:

Oh. I see. No wonder there’s a lot of head scratching goin’ on out there. Bottom line: take my word for it! Once these tactics come together in a professionally developed Internet Marketing strategy, the out-of-control beast turns into a benevolent saint. It's a beautiful thing!

Awareness Creation Internet Marketing – Come Back!

2013-08-28T11:04:00.000-07:00

We haven’t really been that far away; we’ve just been humming along, in the background and meditating on our relevance as we listen to the Internet noise about SEO, Social Media, Local Search, Blogging, Mobile SEO, Google Enhanced Campaigns, and now the brouhaha about Yahoo! overtaking the #1 U.S. Web property status from Google. Ok. Enough of the humming along, meditating, and listening; I’ve got something to say about something (at least one thing for this post).

Social Media vs. SEO

With so much focus on social media, it’s easy for people to ignore the importance of SEO. Stephen Mahaney of Planet Ocean Communications reports that there is a “relatively disproportionate focus on Social Media Marketing and Brand Awareness that means companies big and small are rethinking their online marketing strategies.” They point out SEO is still very important but it appears that social media is five times more in demand than SEO.

Hmmm… just because it’s in higher demand does that mean social media is more important? Not at all. Just because tomatoes are in high demand does that mean broccoli is less important? Just because web developers are in high demand does that mean that SEO experts are less important? Of course not. I rest my case.

Internet Marketing is About Effectively Reaching Your Audience

The audience of any given product or service is multi-dimensional so you can’t create awareness of and interest in your products or services with a one-dimensional online strategy (e.g. SEO or social media). Through the years we have created expert, multi-dimensional Internet Marketing Strategies that have included SEO, optimized content writing, online PR, Local Search, PPC campaigns management, website analyses and social media – all bringing fantastic results for our clients. And, fortunately, we continue to develop, implement, and manage strategies that are up-to-date and relevant to the needs of our clients.

Hiatus… Updating… Reevaluating… Reinventing… Refreshing… Researching… Regrouping… Ay yi yi!

You know, sometimes sitting back and listening is just what you need to realize the relevance is there – even if it seems like there is no demand. We’re not just sitting back. We continue to listen and we want to hear from you: tell us what your demands are and I know we’ll have the relevant solutions.

So, more thoughts about something else to be continued…

Colorado SEO Blog - SEO, Social Media, Search Engine Marketing Tips & More: Creating a New Website? Re-Designing an Existing W...

2013-04-08T12:01:00.001-07:00

Colorado SEO Blog - SEO, Social Media, Search Engine Marketing Tips & More: Creating a New Website? Re-Designing an Existing W...: Creating a New Website? Re-Designing an Existing Website? Talk to Your SEO Pro First!!! One More thing... ... if you decide you want ...

2013-04-08T11:49:00.000-07:00

Creating a New Website? Re-Designing an Existing Website? Talk to Your SEO Pro First!!! One More thing...

... if you decide you want to emulate an "industry leader's" website, make sure that "leader" is really using a web design and a Search Engine Optimization Strategy that is going to boost your search positioning potential.

For instance, let's say you're a mid-size, natural dog food manufacturer and you want to compete with the well-known companies. (By the way, this is a fictional example and any similarities to real companies are purely accidental.) You decide you should have a website that is like "theirs" (since they are so successful) and you get your website designer to look at the big company sites to get an idea of a direction you need to take with your website design. Sound familiar?

Your website designer designs a site that has a gorgeous flash banner that takes up half of the web page showing beautiful, healthy dogs romping through a fantasy meadow, pulling dog sleds, swimming in a mountain lake, or saving a baby falling from a skyscraper - you get the picture(s); all the information about your dog food and company is within aesthetically-appealing graphics; there is no real informational/optimized content; the SEO is practically non-existent. You love it!

Give it two months (give or take) and you'll find that your site can't be found because it's buried so deeply in the Google cellar that it's seems like you don't even exist. What happened?! You did everything the "industry-leaders" did for their sites - you would think that you should be found at least in the top 20 search positions. You would think. But that's not the way it works.

Without getting too technical and caught up in all the details, you didn't have a chance to get top search positions. Your new website was never going to get you better search positions because the "industry leader's" website you emulated didn't have a good website design for successful online exposure. Chances are, the "industry leader" didn't even have that great of a search presence for the keyword searches your audience would use - they don't have to - they have brand equity.

When you have a well-established brand, your website can still work for you because the audience knows your name and will search for specific information using your brand. So, if you cannot cash in on a well-known name, you may want to think about cashing in on a solid website design that uses up-to-date search engine optimization.

Just sayin'...

Colorado SEO Blog - SEO, Social Media, Search Engine Marketing Tips & More: Get Professional SEO Help Now!

2013-02-01T10:20:00.001-08:00

Colorado SEO Blog - SEO, Social Media, Search Engine Marketing Tips & More: Get Professional SEO Help Now!: Creating a New Website? Re-Designing an Existing Website? Talk to Your SEO Pro First!!! We see it all the time... companies create their n...

Get Professional SEO Help Now!

2013-02-01T10:16:00.000-08:00

Creating a New Website? Re-Designing an Existing Website? Talk to Your SEO Pro First!!!

We see it all the time... companies create their new websites or re-design their existing sites without any Search Engine Optimization strategies - and boy do they get a rude awakening when it comes to getting top search engine positions.

Many on-page technical, design, and content factors are involved in SEO for getting (and maintaining) great search engine exposure. Do you really want to spend all the money on a new website only to have it ignored by search engines - or just not found - or going to the wrong page?

Website designers and developers are fantastic at designing and programming websites but most likely don't focus on the SEO components that must be incorporated into the design of the site for maximum search engine effectiveness. Many designers promote the fact that they design "optimized" sites but we have discovered they really don't provide up-to-date or thorough SEO tactics that will give you the best results. It's very much like a brain surgeon saying she can do open heart surgery: clearly, each discipline requires a different set of skills.

Get at least an hour consultation with a Search Engine Optimization Pro during the planning stages of your new website. You should hear recommendations not only about keywords and meta data but also about photo placement, use of flash, re-directs, content, internal links, inbound links, off-page optimization, etc.

Search Engine Optimization should not be an after-thought. Get it right from the beginning and you'll have less expense, disappointment, and frustration.

2013-01-23T13:29:00.000-08:00

January White (Hat) SEO Sales Event!

January is typically the month when merchants have their annual "White Sales" to get shoppers to stock up on their towels and bedding. January is the time when Awareness Creation has its annual "White Hat SEO Sale" so that clients can stock up on the best Search Engine Optimization tactics to start off the new year with improved search positioning.

One of the best ways to take advantage of this yearly sales event is to get a Site Audit which includes reviews of the following:

Your site analytics to determine on-page SEO effectiveness.
Page load speed.
Canonical issues.
Indexed pages.
Web content. Specifically checking for duplicate content, insufficient content, use of keywords.
Indexed pages.
Back links and internal links.
Social signals.
1 hour follow up Q&A.

Interested? Just drop us an email info@awarenesscreation.com with any questions you may have, your contact info, and we'll get in touch.

And, I want to thank you all for getting in touch with us wondering about this blog. You know, our time and priorities can get high-jacked sometimes as did ours in the last 9 months - oh well, it happens. But, we are now back on track and you can expect continued SEO, SEM, Social Media Marketing, and more Internet Marketing info coming your way!

Carole

Are You Wasting Your Time on Twitter?

2012-02-04T13:00:00.000-08:00

You are wasting your time if you post the wrong kind of tweets. A 2012 study (Who Gives a Tweet?) found that those interviewed during their study viewed only a little more than 1/3rd of the tweets they followed as worthy of their time or deserving of a mediocre a thumbs-up. Here are some of the findings of Who Gives a Tweet?:

36% of the tweets received were worth reading.
39% of the tweets resulted in ambivalent audience reactions.
25% of the tweets were not worth reading at all.
"Question to Followers" tweets are more interesting with an approximate 82% approval rate.
The "Me Now" tweets (posts giving updates about a mood or activity) were the most disliked with only a 22% chance of being rated as worthy of reading.

Most of the study's participants complained that the majority of tweets are just plain boring. So, what makes a good tweet?

The Twitter audience appreciates learning new information.
Funny tweets are always a hit.
Followers like links within tweets.
The longer the tweet (120-130 characters), the higher the click-through rates.
And, speaking of higher click-through rates, tweets with "via", "@", "RT", "please", and "check" had higher click-through rates compared to those without those words. However, many believe hashtags and @mentions are overused.
Best times to tweet: weekend afternoons.

Now that you have some solid guidelines, you can be sure that tweeting isn't a waste of your time (or a waste of time to your followers).

Here's to better tweets!

Carole

Website & Social Media Copy Writing - MUST GET IT RIGHT!

2011-09-12T13:07:00.000-07:00

Copy writing for a website, social media post, PPC ad - any online communication - is different than print copy writing. When you think about, even good copy writing for print marketing materials or advertising uses a different style than what is used for business reports, letters, books, manuals, etc. However, it seems like the concept of using a different type of writing for online communications is a difficult concept for many to embrace.

Web copy writing is not an excuse for poor writing but is an effective style that better fits the medium and audience.

Numerous reliable studies have indicated that web users read online content much differently than print copy (requiring a different writing style for an improved user experience) :

Web readers jump around the web page scanning for specific bits of information - all within just a few seconds.
Print readers typically spend more time with content as they read word-for-word, in a linear fashion. Even if you've written a masterpiece, Web readers are an impatient lot who can be turned off by tons of content.

And, I haven't even touched on the SEO reasons for correct online copy writing. That will have to be for another day.

Just remember that online copy writing can be very powerful or very destructive. My advice: hire a professional!

Carole

Are You Sabotaging Your SEO – How You May be Zapping the Power of Your Online Touch Points

2011-08-24T11:10:00.000-07:00

Many companies are not doing themselves any favor by approaching Search Engine Optimization (SEO) with self-sabotaging practices. The way a company optimizes their online touch points can really make or break a company’s sales, business development, reputation management, customer relationship building, and Marketing/PR efforts.

The Top 5 Ways Companies Compromise the Power of SEO

Having an “either or” attitude. Successful SEO Strategies require Social Media and effective Social Media requires SEO. By having an “either or” attitude, a company misses out on great business advantages that come with the necessary integration of SEO and Social Media.
DIY SEO. SEO requires specialized expertise. Most companies have an idea that SEO is important and that they should be using it with their website (and since many of these companies have an “either or” attitude Social Media doesn’t even come into the SEO discussion). However, many companies believe that an intern or employee can do a little reading up about SEO and develop a “good enough” strategy that will get their website to the top of the search listings.
Hiring Cheap “Experts”. More people are jumping on the SEO bandwagon to promote themselves as “experts”. You may be seeing this in action when you get email spam from companies that offer SEO services for $15 (USD) per hour. On the other side, some companies are seeking an SEO “expert” that will create and manage strategies for $17 per hour.
Depending on Web Designers. Good website designers and developers are crucial to creating a professional website but they are not typically SEO experts. Finding a balance between good design and usability with SEO is important and some designers may have a lopsided perspective about that balance.
Ignoring online content standards. To get top search engine positioning your online content must be optimized. SEO requires a specific style of writing that incorporates very specific SEO tactics. Many Marketing execs, teams, writers, and managers don’t understand the necessity of using a writing style that is appropriate for the Internet and SEO.

Do any of the above sound familiar? If so, just stop!

Till next time!

Carole

Google+ - Can it Really Help Your Internet Marketing Strategy?

2011-08-01T15:37:00.000-07:00

Our clients are now asking “what is Google+ and should we start using it”? Many of our clients have heard about this new platform but wonder why they need to become a part of Google+ when they’re still trying to figure out Facebook.

On June 28, Google launched the trial version of Google Plus (aka Google+) and is an “invitation only” community at this time. (Get in touch with carole@awarenesscreation.com if you’d like an invitation.) Google plans to outperform Facebook with this new social platform that allows for a higher level of customization, flexibility and privacy.

The one difference between Facebook and Google+ you’ll find appealing is that you can organize your connections in Google+ better than within Facebook. On Facebook, everybody in your community is a “friend”. But with Google+ features (such as +Circles, +Sparks, and +Hangouts) you’ll be able to follow, share and communicate with your connections in a more logical, productive and private system.

+Circles. Allows you to organize your contacts into topical groups such as top business resources (Awareness Creation!), business clients, project stakeholders, golf pals, high school friends, etc. You can easily share specific information, links, videos, etc. with your select circles.

+Sparks. Automatically delivers articles, videos, photos, etc. to you based on your interests.

+Hangouts. Provides video chat rooms where you can “hangout” with the people in your circles. A Hangout can accommodate up to 10 users which could be a new option for your webinars, remote meetings, or even catch up time with friends.

Awareness Creation is recommending that you and your company begin to explore Google+ for a number of reasons.

Getting to know any new network takes time. Start using the Google+ features while it’s still relatively simple and you’ll be better able to grow within network as more features are added.
The features now available are worth getting to know and use.
Google+ will be adding the capability to add business profiles. Having a profile that can be indexed by search engines (especially Google) can ultimately strengthen your Internet Marketing – including your SEO.

And last but not least…

Awareness Creation is recommending that the use of any social platform should be included within a strong Internet Marketing Strategy. When you strategically use online opportunities for the promotion of your company – you can increase your inbound links, website traffic, and client base.

Happy August!

Carole

SEO No-Nos Could be Hurting Your Google Positioning

2011-07-12T07:43:00.000-07:00

Just a heads-up: even though you think you’re only using one URL for your website, search engines may see that your site uses a number of URLs which creates what the techies call a “canonical” issue – which can weaken your SEO strategy and positioning.

For instance: www.awarenesscreation.com is my website URL. However, IF I had a canonical issue (which I don't!), search engines would see that my website used the following additional URLs:

Awarenesscreation.com
Awarenesscreation.com/index.html
http://www.awarenesscreation.com

If you have a canonical issue, search engines interpret the situation as using duplicate content, which is an SEO No-No. Even if you don’t have duplicate content, Search engines will penalize a website as though it has duplicate content if you have a canonical problem.

And, if you’re backlinking to a variety of URLs (especially from valuable, authoritative sites) your inbound linking strategy is also going to be weakened which will prevent you from getting top Google search positions.

How to Repair a Canonical Issue & Improve Your SEO

Your website developer or hosting company can help you fix this problem:

1. Select the URL that want to consistently use as your website’s URL.
2. Create a 301 redirect from all URLs to your selected (canonical) URL.

Chipping away at Repairing SEO No-Nos

SEO continues to be important for your business development, reputation management, and online effectiveness. By repairing your canonical issue, you’ll have one less SEO No-No to worry about.

Of course, you’ll still have plenty of other issues lurking around the Web that can sabotage your SEO Strategy and keep you from out in front of the competition; but you can always get in touch with Awareness Creation to help you chip away at those SEO No-Nos!

Happy SEO-ing!

Carole

DIY (Do it Yourself) SEO May Not be Helping You!

2011-05-16T15:33:00.000-07:00

I've had a rash of new clients who have just updated their websites (or have new websites) and are just now discovering that their DIY SEO may be keeping their wonderful new sites from being indexed by Google. Many clients have had nothing but the best intentions to improve their websites with SEO but, unfortunately, many of the SEO strategies applied may be actually hurting the websites' rankings instead of helping.

Or, what's even more frustrating is that some clients are finding out their developers are using content management systems that need to be tweaked to get the benefits of SEO. After paying a pretty penny to design or update a site, you would think that some problems shouldn't have to be worried about. You would think...

Some of the most common SEO problems include:

Mis-use of keywords (or lack of strong, relevant keywords)
Duplicate content
URLs that are not search friendly
Canonical issues

If you're planning to have a website re-design or new website designed from scratch, check with us first so we can give you an idea of the SEO problems you can avoid before it's too late.

Have a great week!

Carole

Lawyer Internet Marketing: Why You Must Have Top Google Positions to Attract New Clients

2011-04-15T07:55:00.000-07:00

If you're an attorney, do you find that it's getting harder and harder to get new clients? That's no surprise. According to the American Bar Association and the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the competition is getting tougher and tougher:

45,588 students were awarded J.D. or LL.B. degrees from 200 U.S. law schools during the 2008-2009 academic year.
Approximately 11,000 U.S. lawyers enter independent practices, annually. (As of 2010-2011 ~26% of lawyers are self-employed.)

Top Google Search Positions Should be a Law Firm's #1 Marketing Priority

Because of the increasing competition in the legal industry getting on page 1 of Google Search Listings is one of the most effective lawyer marketing tactics to have in a law firm marketing plan. Results of a survey completed by Greenfield/Belser & the Brand Research Company indicates that decision makers rely on the Internet when researching law firms and other outside professional service providers:

82% of executives now use the Internet for research more than other source.
78% of executives now go online to search for outside legal services.
85% of executives consider professional services firms' websites as important sources of information in their search for outside professionals.

And - given that Google is the most influential search engine, doesn't it make sense that an effective law firm marketing plan must include Google search engine optimization (SEO) and a Google Adwords campaign? (The answer is 'yes" - actually, the answer is "absolutely").

What to Know About Lawyer SEO & Law Firm Google AdWords Campaign

The key to getting top listings on Google requires the following:

Realistic expectations
Thorough Keyword Research & Development
On-Page Search Engine Optimization
Off-Page Search Engine Optimization
Performance Reporting
Ongoing Updates

Most important thing to remember about getting to the top of Google search: it's not a one-time, quick fix.

The second most important thing to remember: get professional help.

Happy Friday!

Carole

Big Companies Getting Busted for Using Black Hat SEO

2011-03-03T09:40:00.000-08:00

Huh... in mid-February the New York Times reported that JC Penney's was investigated and found "guilty" of using an inbound link scheme to get top Search Engine positions. Imagine that. A big company using a (most likely) big SEO firm that bought some paid link networks, suspiciously around holiday time. AND, thousands of bogus links pointing to Penney's site were cropping on totally unrelated sites. A couple of other "smoking guns" were found such as web page titles that did not match the link anchor texts and random "inconspicuous" links were appearing in the footers of, again, unrelated sites.

Of course, JC Penney's denied any knowledge of the crime and promptly fired their (most likely high-priced) SEO firm. AND, Penney's site has been penalized by Google to the point that it's not showing up in the coveted #1 & #2 spots it had gained during the holiday. Actually, it's been reported that the Penney's site is not showing up at all in any non-branded keyword searches. You still find the Penney's site using their name but not by searching with keywords such as "bedding", "dresses", "home decor", etc. which were at one time showing Penney's as #1 or #2 in search results.

Interestingly enough, Overstock.com was ratted out by a competitor for an inbound link building scheme that involved bribing .edu sites (with a 10% discount) to include Overstock's links on those highly valuable sites.

I have to say this is good news. It's about time those with the bucks start earning their top positions like the rest of us have to. Now, companies like Penney's and Overstock may have to put some dollars into an online reputation management campaign instead of costly Black Hat SEO Strategies.

It's not nice to fool Mother Google!

Carole

SEO Keyword Research & Development - The Life Force of Your SEO Strategy

2011-02-22T09:01:00.000-08:00

SEO keyword research and development is absolutely necessary for the following situations:

Establishing a domain name for your new website
Creating a new website
Updating an existing website
Meta data completion
Starting a blog
Posting to a blog
Developing a social networking presence
Maintaining a social network presence
Posting a video to social media sites
Tweeting
Writing online press releases
Writing online syndicated articles
Updating website content
Updating a social networking profile
Building inbound links
Fill in the blank...

But, (you observe) Search Engine Optimization is not on the list! Actually, all of the above is all about SEO. Everything in the list, above, contributes to the success of your SEO Strategy - if - you know the most powerful keywords to use and how to use them.

Keyword research and development isn't really very exciting but do you ever look at breathing in and out as exciting? You should! Keyword Development is as necessary and life sustaining to your SEO Strategy as breathing in and out is to your body. I find that to be very exciting!

Top 10 SEO To Dos for 2011

2011-02-08T10:25:00.000-08:00

For those of you who are easily intimidated by a full-blown SEO Strategy for advanced search engine rankings, expanded brand recognition, enhanced reputation management, and improved business development here is our Top 10 Checklist of Search Engine Optimization “must dos”:

Have a professional complete keyword research and development. The established keywords can be used in your website content, social media posts, and search engine marketing. Make sure to take advantage of geo-targeted keywords for Local Search if applicable.
Review your website keyword usage and adjust according to an updated keyword R&D.
Schedule monthly (at least) reviews of your website analytics or web logs. Look for trends that are bringing the best results (such as the keywords getting the most referrals).
Add new pages to your website: find new topics (and keywords) of interest to your audience for the focus of your new pages.
Post updated content on your web pages with the correct use of strong keywords.
Research and implement new ways to get free, high quality, inbound links. Use keywords in text inbound links when possible.
Find out the inbound links your competitors are getting and try to get the same links that they have – as long as they’re free and of high quality.
Complete regularly scheduled competitive analyses.
Check out your web logs and review your site logs and in Google Webmaster Tools to identify the 404 error pages that are showing up. Correct those errors.
Update your copyright notice.

Did you notice that the majority of the above recommendations included keywords usage? That’s no accident. Many website owners aren’t getting the best results possible because they don’t understand or pay attention to the power of keywords. Keywords are our SEO friends.

Got any good keyword stories? Please share – we’d love to hear about your good (or bad) experiences with keywords.

Carole